HR&A’s Report on the NYC Tech Ecosystem Unveiled by Deputy Mayor Glen

The New York City Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, Alicia Glen, unveiled HR&A’s study on the NYC Tech System. A consortium consisting of HR&A, the Association for a Better New York (ABNY), Citi, Google, and NY Tech Meetup released the study detailing the impact of New York City’s “tech ecosystem”. The study also offers substantive public policy direction for nurturing the future success of the ecosystem, and by extension, New York City itself.

HR&A Director Kate Wittels noted that “The spectrum of tech-related occupations — from programmers to sales reps — is creating well-paying and quality jobs for New Yorkers at all levels of educational attainment. Fostering the growth of the New York tech ecosystem will increase economic opportunities for all New Yorkers.” The tech ecosystem contains 291,000 workers who work in tech industries or perform tech functions for non-tech firms. The economic activity engendered by these direct jobs supports 250,000 additional jobs throughout the City’s economy, and generates $125 billion in total spending and over $5.6 billion in annual tax revenues.

Over the past decade, New York City’s tech ecosystem has grown by 18%, while total jobs have only grown by 12% in the City. The New York City tech ecosystem is also providing critical opportunities for workers with and without college degrees – 44% of all tech ecosystem jobs do not require a Bachelor’s degree; these jobs pay 45% higher hourly wages than other jobs in New York City with the same educational requirement.

Over the past several years, HR&A has contributed to developing strategies to grow New York City’s tech ecosystem. We managed the Take the H.E.L.M. competition to attract creative economy tenants to Lower Manhattan and are managing the NYC BigApps 2014 competition to facilitate the creation of mobile and web applications that leverage City data to solve civic issues. In addition to these programs, we were economic advisors for the Brooklyn Tech Triangle plan to enhance downtown Brooklyn’s tech sector.